Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server v3 Administration Guide

Chapter 12 Administering User Security

This chapter provides instructions for administering user security in the Sun GlassFishTM Enterprise Server environment by using the asadmin command-line utility. Enterprise Server enforces its authentication and authorization policies upon realms, users, and groups. This chapter assumes that you are familiar with security features such as authentication, authorization, and certificates. If you are not, see Chapter 11, Administering System Security.

The following topics are addressed here:

Instructions for accomplishing these tasks by using the Administration Console are contained in the Administration Console online help.

Administering Authentication Realms

An authentication realm, also called a security policy domain or security domain, is a scope over which the Enterprise Server defines and enforces a common security policy. Enterprise Server is preconfigured with the file, certificate, and administration realms. In addition, you can set up LDAP, JDBC, digest, Solaris, or custom realms. An application can specify which realm to use in its deployment descriptor. If the application does not specify a realm, Enterprise Server uses its default realm (file).

File realm

Enterprise Server stores user credentials locally in a file named keyfile. The file realm is the initial default realm.

Administration realm

The administration realm is also a file realm and stores administrator user credentials locally in a file named admin-keyfile.

Certificate realm

Enterprise Server stores user credentials in a certificate database. When using the certificate realm, the server uses certificates with the HTTPS protocol to authenticate web clients.

LDAP realm

Enterprise Server gets user credentials from a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) server such as the Directory Server. LDAP is a protocol for enabling anyone to locate organizations, individuals, and other resources such as files and devices in a network, whether on the public Internet or on a corporate intranet. Consult your LDAP server documentation for information about managing users and groups in the LDAP realm.

JDBC realm

Enterprise Server gets user credentials from a database. The server uses the database information and the enabled JDBC realm option in the configuration file.

Digest realm

Digest Authentication authenticates a user based on a user name and a password. However, the authentication is performed by transmitting the password in an encrypted form.

Solaris realm

Enterprise Server gets user credentials from the Solaris operating system. This realm is supported on the Solaris 9 and Solaris 10 operating systems. Consult your Solaris documentation for information about managing users and groups in the Solaris realm.

Custom realm

You can create other repositories for user credentials, such as a relational database or third-party components. For more information about custom realms, see the Administration Console online help. For instructions on creating a custom realm, see Creating a Custom Realm in Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server v3 Application Development Guide.

The Enterprise Server authentication service can govern users in multiple realms.

The following tasks and information are used to administer authentication realms:

ProcedureTo Create an Authentication Realm

Use the create-auth-realm subcommand in remote mode to create an authentication realm.

  1. Ensure that the server is running.

    Remote subcommands require a running server.

  2. Create a realm by using the create-auth-realm(1) subcommand.

    Information about properties for this subcommand is included in this help page.


Example 12–1 Creating a Realm

This example creates a realm named db.


asadmin> create-auth-realm --classname com.iplanet.ias.security.
auth.realm.DB.Database --property defaultuser=admin:Password=admin db
Command create-auth-realm executed successfully.

See Also

You can also view the full syntax and options of the subcommand by typing asadmin help create-auth-realm at the command line.

For information on creating a custom realm, see Creating a Custom Realm in Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server v3 Application Development Guide.

ProcedureTo List Authentication Realms

Use the list-auth-realms subcommand in remote mode to list the existing authentication realms.

  1. Ensure that the server is running.

    Remote subcommands require a running server.

  2. List realms by using the list-auth-realms(1) subcommand.


Example 12–2 Listing Realms

This example lists the authentication realms on localhost.


asadmin> list-auth-realms
db
certificate
file
admin-realm
Command list-auth-realms executed successfully.

See Also

You can also view the full syntax and options of the subcommand by typing asadmin help list-auth-realms at the command line.

ProcedureTo Update an Authentication Realm

Use the set subcommand to modify an existing authentication realm.


Note –

A custom realm does not require server restart.


  1. List realms by using the list-auth-realms(1) subcommand.

  2. Modify the values for the specified thread pool by using the set(1) subcommand.

    The thread pool is identified by its dotted name.

  3. To apply your changes, restart Enterprise Server.

    See To Restart a Domain.

ProcedureTo Delete an Authentication Realm

Use the delete-auth-realm subcommand in remote mode to delete an existing authentication realm.

  1. Ensure that the server is running.

    Remote subcommands require a running server.

  2. List realms by using the list-auth-realms(1) subcommand.

  3. If necessary, notify users that the realm is being deleted.

  4. Delete the realm by using the delete-auth-realm(1) subcommand.

  5. To apply your changes, restart Enterprise Server. See To Restart a Domain.


Example 12–3 Deleting a Realm

This example deletes an authentication realm named db.


asadmin> delete-auth-realm db
Command delete-auth-realm executed successfully.

See Also

You can also view the full syntax and options of the subcommand by typing asadmin help delete-auth-realm at the command line.

ProcedureTo Configure a JDBC or Digest Authentication Realm

Enterprise Server enables you to specify a user's credentials (user name and password) in the JDBC realm instead of in the connection pool. Using the jdbc type realm instead of the connection pool prevents other applications from browsing the database tables for user credentials.


Note –

By default, storage of passwords as clear text is not supported in the JDBC realm. Under normal circumstances, passwords should not be stored as clear text.


  1. Create the database tables in which to store user credentials for the realm.

    How you create the database tables depends on the database that you are using.

  2. Add user credentials to the database tables that you created.

    How you add user credentials to the database tables depends on the database that you are using.

  3. Create a JDBC connection pool for the database.

    See To Create a JDBC Connection Pool.

  4. Create a JDBC resource for the database.

    To Create a JDBC Resource

  5. Create a realm.

    For instructions, see To Create an Authentication Realm.


    Note –

    The JAAS context should be jdbcDigestRealm for digest authentication or jdbcRealm for other authentication types.


  6. Modify the deployment descriptor to specify the jdbc realm.

    Modify the deployment descriptor that is associated with your application.

    • For an enterprise application in an Enterprise Archive (EAR) file, modify the sun-application.xml file.

    • For a web application in a Web Application Archive (WAR) file, modify the web.xml file.

    • For an enterprise bean in an EJB JAR file, modify the sun-ejb-jar.xml file.

    For more information about how to specify a realm, see How to Configure a Realm in Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server v3 Application Development Guide.

  7. Assign security roles to users in the realm.

    To assign a security role to a user, add a security-role-mapping element to the deployment descriptor that you modified.

  8. Verify that the database is running.

    If needed, see To Start the Database

  9. To apply the authentication, restart the server.

    See To Restart a Domain.


Example 12–4 Assigning a Security Role

This example shows a security-role-mapping element that assigns the security role Employee to user Calvin

<security-role-mapping>
    <role-name>Employee</role-name>
    <principal-name>Calvin</principal-name>
  </security-role-mapping>

Administering File Users

A user is an individual (or application program) identity that is defined in Enterprise Server. A user who has been authenticated is sometimes called a principal.

As the administrator, you are responsible for integrating users into the Enterprise Server environment so that their credentials are securely established and they are provided with access to the applications and services that they are entitled to use.

The following tasks are used to manage users:

ProcedureTo Create a File User

Use the create-file-user subcommand in remote mode to create a new user by adding a new entry to the keyfile. The entry includes the user name, password, and any groups for the user. Multiple groups can be specified by separating the groups with colons (:).

Creating a new file realm user is a dynamic event and does not require server restart.

  1. Ensure that the server is running.

    Remote subcommands require a running server.

  2. If the user will belong to a particular group, see the current groups by using the list-file-groups(1) subcommand.

  3. Create a file user by using the create-file-user(1) subcommand.


Example 12–5 Creating a User

This example create user Jennifer on the default realm file (no groups are specified).


asadmin> create-file-user --user admin 
--passwordfile=c:\tmp\asadminpassword.txt Jennifer
Command create-file-user executed successfully.

See Also

You can also view the full syntax and options of the subcommand by typing asadmin help create-file-user at the command line.

ProcedureTo List File Users

Use the list-file-users subcommand in remote mode to list the users that are in the keyfile.

  1. Ensure that the server is running.

    Remote subcommands require a running server.

  2. List users by using the list-file-users(1) subcommand.


Example 12–6 Listing File Users

This example lists file users on the default file realm file.


asadmin> list-file-users
Jennifer
Command list-file-users executed successfully.

See Also

You can also view the full syntax and options of the subcommand by typing asadmin help list-file-users at the command line.

ProcedureTo List File Groups

A group is a category of users classified by common traits, such as job title or customer profile. For example, users of an e-commerce application might belong to the customer group, and the big spenders might also belong to the preferred group. Categorizing users into groups makes it easier to control the access of large numbers of users. A group is defined for an entire server and realm. A user can be associated with multiple groups of users.

A group is different from a role in that a role defines a function in an application, while a group is a set of users who are related in some way. For example, in the personnel application there might be groups such as full-time, part-time, and on-leave. Users in these groups are all employees (the employee role). In addition, each user has its own designation that defines an additional level of employment.

Use the list-file-groups subcommand in remote mode to list groups for a file user, or all file groups if the --name option is not specified.

  1. Ensure that the server is running.

    Remote subcommands require a running server.

  2. List file groups by using the list-file-groups(1) subcommand.


Example 12–7 Listing Groups for a User

This example lists the groups for user joesmith.


asadmin> list-file-groups --name joesmith
staff
manager
Command list-file-groups executed successfully

ProcedureTo Update a File User

Use the update-file-user subcommand in remote mode to modify the information in the keyfile for a specified user.

  1. Ensure that the server is running.

    Remote subcommands require a running server.

  2. Update the user information by using the update-file-user(1) subcommand.

  3. To apply your changes, restart Enterprise Server.

    See To Restart a Domain.


Example 12–8 Updating a User

The following subcommand updates the groups for user Jennifer.


asadmin> update-file-user --passwordfile c:\tmp\asadminpassword.txt --groups 
staff:manager:engineer Jennifer
Command update-file-user executed successfully.

See Also

You can also view the full syntax and options of the subcommand by typing asadmin help update-file-user at the command line.

ProcedureTo Delete a File User

Use the delete-file-user subcommand in remote mode to remove a user entry from the keyfile by specifying the user name. You cannot delete yourself, that is, the user you are logged in as cannot be deleted during your session.

  1. Ensure that the server is running.

    Remote subcommands require a running server.

  2. List users by using the list-file-users(1) subcommand.

  3. Delete the user by using the delete-file-user(1) subcommand.


Example 12–9 Deleting a User

This example deletes user Jennifer from the default file realm.


asadmin> delete-file-user Jennifer
Command delete-file-user executed successfully.

See Also

You can also view the full syntax and options of the subcommand by typing asadmin help delete-file-user at the command line.